ONBOARDING UX - DIRECTBUY

The Job:

Using existing framework, redesign subscription-based furniture club product with a focus on optimal user experience and conversion rate optimization (CRO).

Even if you're only asking for $10 bucks a month, subscription based products that need payment upfront can be tricky.

DirectBuy's introductory pricing structure started at $69.95 a month with a one-time membership fee of $299. The yearly membership was cheaper, but required an upfront fee of $597.

There was nothing we could do about the pricing sctructure. Once you got right down to it, the product could end up saving a consumer thousands of dollars—so at the end of the day it's a good deal.

Our challenge was to streamline the onboarding process while also communicating the value of such an investment. But first, we had to find the broken parts.

Research began by identifying usability issues of the current onboarding process. Users had no trouble encountering problems.

Users begin by entering their Zip code

"I guess they need to know if I'm near a showroom?"

Next they are hit with a rather brutal looking pricing structure page

"Wait, why did I enter my ZIP Code?"

If they chose a pricing structure, then they get smacked in the face by a wall of form fields. And they'd better make sure the toggle is correct based on the price they chose on the previous screen.

"This is a lot of information, what am I signing up for? That's a lot of money."

If a user signs up—and according to a fallout analyis that the analytics team did, very few do—then guess what? Before they even get to browse for furniture, their phone rings. It's a DirectBuy representative asking them when they can come in for an appointment. Guess they should have read the fine print...

"I don't want people calling me, why would I fill out all this info if you're just going to call me? Let me browse the furniture. Can't you let me buy through the website?"

The situation was dire, but not hopeless. Phase two of the design process was to put these research findings into usability reports and to craft user personas based on objective demograpghic data provided by the client, and subjective elbow grease provided by the design team. It's sometimes easier to help users if they have faces and names.

Phase three of the design process was to wireframe the overall user experience and understanding the user path.

We then conducted user tests of these wireframes, identified usability issues as they arose, and corrected them prior to developing a high fidelity prototype.

The campaign’s messaging was intended to reach a new level of transparency with guaranteed savings percentages by category, as
well as open discussion regarding subscription pricing.

The new onboarding experienced was chunked out, allowing users to process one request for information at a time.

All the while, the pervasive value proposition message was there to remind them why they were going through this process—and what they were going to get at the end of it.

Results

33% Incease in conversion rate when paid search users were sent through this new onboarding funnel and a 24%
decrease in cost per acquisition of new members though paid search.